Toilet-seat operating and cushioning device



June 29 1926.

R. P. LANDIS TOILET. SEAT OPERATING AND CUSHIONING DEVICE Filed Nov. 14. 1923 dl tou wi y Patented dune 29, 192. i

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RICHARD 1P. LANDIS, 015 LA GRANDE, OREGON.

TOILET-SEAT OPERATING AND GUSHIONING DEVICE.

Application filed November 14, 1923. Serial No. 674,882.

- open position either by the operating means or irrespective thereof, and at any speed in accordance With the character of opening thrust applied thereto.

In the preferred form of my invention, the piston member is connected with the floor and the cylinder member is movable about a plurality of axes, the piston head being so constructed and arranged that no binding action can result from relative movement of said members,

The device of my invention has many other features and objects that will be more fully described in connection with the accompanying drawing and which will be more particularly pointed out in and by'the appended claim.

In the drawing Fig. 1, is a view in elevation of a conventional form of toilet illustrating the application thereto of the. most preferred form of my invention, and showing the seat and cover in a closed position.

Fig. 2, is a similar viewshowing the seat and cover in an open position.

Fig. 3, is a fragmentary view partly in section on an enlarged scale showing the-device as it would appear when the seat is in a closed position.

.Fig. 4, is a similar view showing the position of the parts with the seat in an open position.

Fig. 5, is an enlarged sectional view of the upper end of the cylinder and/showing the piston structure in section.

Like characters of reference designate similar parts throughout the different figures of the drawing.

The device of my invention is shown ap plied to a toilet comprising a bowl 1, connected with a water tank 2, in the usual manner. The toilet is shown provided witha toilet seat 3, and a cover therefor 1ndi= cated at 4, the seat and cover bein hinged at 5. The device of my invention W1 1 function equally well on a toilet without a cover for the seat and the cover is herein shown to i1 lustrate the manner in which the device may serve to operate both. In this form, the tank is so disposed that when the seat 3, is rather quickly raised, the cover 4 will be swung passed the vertical and will rest against tank 2, as shown in Fig. 2. However, if the tank is not disposed in this particular relation, the cover may be .0 rated or opened or closed just as effectively? In the form shown, a portion of the device consists of a treadle lever 6, pivoted between its ends at 7, to a pivot block 8, which may be secured to the floor. The block 8, is forked, as shown in Fig. 3, and has a stop 9, limiting movement of lever 6 into a seat opening position beyond a point wherein the seat would not return by gravity. In Fi 2, I have shown the extreme position to which the seat may be opened by the lever 6. Thus, the seat 3 will always seek a closed osition by gravity to function in its norma capacity. The lever 6, has a hinged foot treadle 10, onto which pressure of the foot may be imposed to operate lever 6. A link 11, has its upper end pivoted at 12, to a bracket 13, fixed to seat 3. The'lower end of the link or rod 11 is, for practical purposes, operatively although not directly ivotally connected with the right hand end of lever 6, so that when the treadle end of lever 6, is depressed, the link 11 will raise the seat 3, as shown. Now in the claim, I will refer to what has been described, namely, the lever 6 and link 11, and their operative parts, as thetreadle mechanism. a

I will next refer to my improved cushioning means which is preferably of the cylinder and piston, type.

In the employment of cylinder and piston members shown, I have illustrated the cylinder member as being incorporated in the treadle mechanism to be movable therewith, .but I do not wish to be limited to this particular construction. As shown, the cylinder is indicated at 14, and the same is substantially vertically disposed and its movement is of an up and down character. A fitconnected at 19. The link or rod 11, has a lower threaded end 20, which is turned into a correspondingly threaded socket 21, of fitting 15. This threaded engagement affords a convenient adjustment to increase or decrease the operative length of link 11. This adjustment is afforded in addition to the primary adjustment of locating the bracket 13, toward or from the hinged axis of the seat and. cover. In other words, I can, by adjusting link 11, regulate the height to which the seat 3 may be swung when the lever 6, is in engagement with stop 9. It will be noted that the lower end 22, of the cylinder 14, is open. The upper end of said cylinder 14 is closed by a cap 23, which may be threaded onto the cylinder and which is provided with an apertured lug 24, through which the link 11 extends.

It is well known that an ordinary screw joint is not air tight, even when packing is used. Therefore, I use no packing and turn the cap 23, into position, with a view of taking advantage of a certain amount of air leakage. If the amount of leakage is not suflicient, which it usually is, I may slightly interrupt the threads of either the cap 23 or the corresponding end of the cylinder 14, to obtain additional leakage. As a matter of information, I have found that a pin hole in the cap, afl'ords too much leakage, in addition to that which is usual from an ordinary threaded connection. Hence, it will be seen that the upper end of thecylinder, while closed, is not closed air tight.

The remaining member of'the cushioning means, which, as shown, is the piston mem; her, will next be described in detail.

A piston block 25, is shown secured to th floor, and has pivoted thereto at 26, the lower end of a piston link or connecting rod 27. The axis of pivot 26 is disposed so that the rod 27, can swing to the right or left of.

Fig. 3. A piston structure located in the cylinder 14, includes a piston rod 28, which is pivoted at 29, to the upper end. of link 27 and the axis of pivot 29, is parallel to that of pivot 26, so that when the cylinder 14, moves upwardly and downwardly, about the axis 7, 19 and the hinged axis of hinge 5, the rod 28, may always remain coincident with the axis of cylinder 14, and the link 27, because of its pivotal connections and the open bottom of cylinder 14, will accommodate for the changing positions of the latter. My improved piston structure is shown as including-two cupped pistons with the .cupped portions facing upwardly. The rod 28, has a threaded socket 30. Alower piston disc 31, seats on the upper end of rod 28. A leather or other cup has its central portion 32, interposed between disc 31 and a isc 33, the flange portion 34, extendingalong and bearing; against the interior of cylinder 14.11 A rodsection 35, has a reduced threaded end 36, which may be turned into socket 30, the resulting shoulder servin to securely clamp the discs 31 and 33 tig tly against 32. Section 35, has a threaded socket 37. Discs. 38 and 39 are clamped against the central portion 40, of the remaining cup by a screw 41, the head 42, of which bears against disc 39 and the disc 38, engaging the end of section 35. The flange 43, coacts against the interior of cylinder 14, in the same manner as flange 34.

It will now be clear that my improved piston structure comprises'a plurality of piston heads in sufficient spaced relation to maintain the piston structure and rod 28, in coaxial relation with cylinder 14, irrespective of the stresses applied by link 27, and in a manner to prevent binding of the piston structure in the cylinder so that any frictional' or binding resistance in addition to the normal friction of the cups against the cylinder will be avoided. It will also be.

noted that the flanges 34 and 43 of the cups extend a relatively considerable distance freely along the interior of the cylinder and that they are not in any way supported in an extended position, as shown, but on the contrary, are free to collapse and permit air to pass peripherally thereof.

I will next described the operation of my device.

Assuming that the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 1', and it is desired to raise the seat and cover, the user will impose pedal stress on the pedal 10, tilting lever 6 and raising link 11 and the seat 3. The cylinder 14 will be correspondingly elevated as shown in Fig. 4, and because the piston is restrained against upward movement, and by reason of the upper end of. cylinder 14, being closed, it will be clear that opening movement of seat 3 is resisted or cushioned by suction action on the part of the cylinder 14 and piston structure. Of course air will be drawn into the space above the piston heads, by reason of the fact that cap 23 does not fit air tight. If the seat 3 were raised at an extremely slow rate, this might suffice. However, with the usual quick operation, the suction will be so great,

that air will collapse the flanges 34 and 43 and pass into the upper end of the cylinder. When the lever 6 engages stop 9, the foot can either be withdrawn from pedal 10, or

rsaaaee the position shown in Fig. 1. Now on the return movement of seat 3, the air above the iston structure will be compressed there y tending to distend'the cups against the wall of the cylinder 14. Thus, on closing movement of the seat 3, the cushioning action will be of a compression nature, the compressed air gaining egress through the top of the cylinder 14. In practice, the closing movement is quite slow and when the seat 3, reaches the bowl 1, its engagement therewith is gentle and corresponding ly silent.

The importance of cusioning opening movement of the seat is that no slamming or like movement of a destructive nature is possible. Even if a careless user raised the seat with his foot in direct engagement therewith, or quickly, with the hand, the cushionin action is sufficient to prevent injury to the arts. A most important advantage resu ts in resisting upward seat movement by suction action of the cylinder and piston by reason of the fact that this is a very elastic resistance which readily accommodates itself to any speed of opening movement of the seat. The more rapidly the seat is raised into an open position, the more the flanges of the piston cups collapse, and yet, the resistance is such that the lever 6- will not be crashed against stop 9, in a destructive manner, nor can the seat 3 be hanged against the cover or tank.

The downward movement of the seat under compression of air, is of advantage by reason of the fact that more time may be consumed in seat closing than in seat raising. After the toilet has been used for urinal purposes by a male user, the seat has plenty of time to move into a closing position before the toilet is required by another user, whereas, this is not the case in the matter of opening movement. However, should the user sit on the seat 3, before it had reached the position shown in Fig. 1, the compressive resistance would yield to quick closing of the seat without any strain on the mechanism. I

One reason for employing a plurality of piston heads is to obtain a more eflicient check in both directions of movement of the seat. It is a great desideratum'in this utility of my invention to obtain the greatest freedom of action consistent with a gentle but effective cushioning check. Now with relatively freely moving pistons, I obtain a more effective compressive action when the seat is closing, when I employ more than one piston head than with only one. Further, by using two piston heads and spacing them sufficiently, I obtain a piston structure that will retain itself in sliding engagement in the cylinder withoutof the seat, is a mere incident of construction Without any intended function and without any advantage due to the fact that the seat closes under a cushioning action due to compression.

' It is believed that the device of my invention will be fully understod from the foregoing description and While I have described and shown one specific form of my invention, I do not Wish to be limited thereto except for such limitations as the claim may import.

I claim A device for operating and cushioning opening and closing movement of a hinged toilet seat comprising, a pivoted treadle lever, a cylinder mechanism pivoted to said lever and having a link pivoted to said seat and adjustably connected with said mecha' nism and being rigid therewith in any adjustment, said mechanism including a rigidly mounted cylinder having a substantially closed air leaking top and an open bottom, a relatively short piston rod in said cylinder, a plurality of piston heads fixed on said rod spaced longitudinally to prevent bindin of the pistons and coacting with said cy inder to cushion opening and closing movement of the seat, and a link extending into said cylinder with free play through the lower open end thereof and having the upper end of said link pivoted to the lower end of said piston rod and the lower end of said link being pivoted to the floor.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I hereby aflix my signature.

RICHARD P. LANDIS. 

